Clay Court King Nadal overpowered Schwartzman, in the semi-finals for the 14th time
Spain’s Rafael Nadal, third seed and 13-time champion, overcame a challenge from 10th seed Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman in four sets to enter the men’s singles semi-finals of the second Grand Slam French Open of the year for the 14th time.
Nadal overcame Schwartzman’s challenge 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 in two hours and 45 minutes. Nadal won the first set easily but the Argentinian came back in the second set to win. The 13-time champion took a crucial break in the ninth game of the third set to take a 5-4 lead and then continued his serve at 40-0 to win the set 6-4. Nadal was at his ruthless performance in the fourth set and did not give Schwartzman a chance to win a game, winning the set 6–0 to settle Schwartzman’s challenge in two hours and 45 minutes.
Nadal took his record at the French Open to 105-2 with this win. Nadal, who is looking for a record 21st Grand Slam title, will face the winner of the semi-final between world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia and ninth seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy.
After losing the second set, Nadal came back from behind 3-4 in the third set to destroy Schwartzman’s game by winning nine games in a row and winning 20 service points out of 21 in a row. Nadal has a 28-29 record against Djokovic and 1-0 against Berrettini.